Chai Tea Latte
by Stixer111
Summary: Starbucks may be fairly new to the wizarding world, but it sure as hell is popular. In other news, Ron may or may not be avoiding the girl of his dreams (and his co-workers think it's hilarious. Because they suck.) Based on a tumblr post. STORY 6 OF WELCOME TO STARBUCKS


_**A/N- A whole lot of thanks to Randomostrichchocolates on AO3 for betaing this for me. See end of work for more notes.**_

**Chai Tea Latte**

Ron was making a mocha cappuccino when he heard the door to the coffee shop open. Whipping around, he caught sight of wild, bushy hair. Seamus, who was working beside him today, gave him a toothy grin.

"Looks like your favorite customer is back."

Dean, who was taking orders, sniggered, while Lavender smirked at him from the second till. Ron turned bright red, and scowled at them all.

"Shut it Finnegan." he grit out.

The grin didn't drop from the other boy's face as he took the cappuccino that was thrust at him and handed it to the waiting customer. Ron scratched absently at his arm, just over his soulmark. Every time he saw her, he debated starting a conversation in the hopes that maybe her words would match the ones imprinted on his arm, but his courage always failed at the last second. He snuck a quick glance at the girl who was now in the front of the line. She looked harried, more so than usual, two thick books tucked under her arm and a quill behind her ear. When Dean called for a cinnamon chai latte, Ron added a small swirl of chocolate to it. She liked chocolate.

* * *

Starbucks had entered the wizarding world thanks to the efforts of an enterprising American halfblood, looking for a bridge between his two worlds, and it had slowly spread through the wizarding world. Shielded from muggle eyes by the same spell that made them glance over the Leaky Cauldron, Wizarding Starbucks offered cheering charms and calming draughts in addition to espresso shots as coffee add-ons, music that changes to fit the general mood of the patrons, and privacy spells if you didn't want to be disturbed. Needless to say, the franchise became very popular very quickly.

Ron had taken a summer job at the Diagon Alley shop as soon as it opened. He told himself it was because he could do with the extra pocket money, and not because the words "**Oh, aren't you the one who usually makes the drinks?**" were inked into his skin.

It was only after he'd shown up for his first day that he learned that some of his schoolmates had the same idea.

He normally shared shifts with Seamus and Lavender, who spent most of the shift making eyes at each other (there should be a rule against letting soulmates work together, honestly), as well as Dean, though occasionally one of them would be replaced with Cho or Ernie or one of the others. If he ended up making drinks more often than manning the till, it was because he really didn't want to interact with the customers, nothing else. Service with a smile was company policy, and he didn't think he could manage to smile at Draco Malfoy unless the git fell off his broomstick or something. That was all.

Unsurprisingly, the shop itself was extremely popular with Hogwarts students. Throughout the summer, Ron recognized several familiar faces. There was Malfoy and his cronies, who reveled in the opportunity to lord over their schoolmates. They were the worst customers, ordering ridiculously complex drinks, and milling impatiently about the shop trying to goad the baristas on duty into a fight. They never tipped either. Ron and Seamus were kept well away from them after the cinnamon mocha frappuccino incident of the previous summer. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot were regulars, and the Patil sisters as well, much to Lavender's delight. When those two were in the shop the boys gave her up for a lost cause and let her off to gossip. And then there was Hermione.

Seamus wasn't wrong when he called her Ron's favorite customer. There was just something about her, he couldn't quite place it. She wasn't exactly a knock out. Oh, she was pretty, in a nerdy, bookish way, but she had nothing on girls like Lavender and the Patil sisters. Hermione was all wild, bushy hair, ink stained fingers, baggy clothes, and slightly crooked teeth. Her nose was almost always buried in a book, even when she waited in line to order. Ron was mostly impressed by her ability to walk around without bumping into anything.

He hadn't known anything about her at first, other than her name and her house. He'd recognized her from some of the classes Gryffindor shared with Ravenclaw. In all honesty, from his few classes with her, he thought her rather snobbish, and a bit of a know-it-all to be honest. He'd heard from Dean (who'd heard from Seamus, who'd heard from Lavender, who'd heard from Parvati, who'd heard from Padma) that she spent most of first year researching various bits of wizarding history in addition to her coursework. He'd dismissed her as another bookworm, weird in the way most Ravenclaws were, and never really thought about her again. Until he started working at Starbucks.

* * *

The first time she'd walked into the shop early this summer, she had been alone, and she'd walked up to the counter with a thick tome under her arm. She gave her order to Dean rather absentmindedly, settled down at a table near the counter, and immediately buried her nose in the book. She didn't seem to notice the goings on in the shop, so transfixed was she by the words on the page. Seamus had to announce her order twice, and eventually walked over to her table to give it to her when she made no sign of hearing him. She had accepted the drink with an embarrassed smile and a blush, but returned to her book almost immediately, worrying at her bottom lip as she read. Despite himself, Ron had been transfixed by the way her face lit up as she read. Most patrons, if they came to work or read, would raise a privacy spell to block out the sounds of the shop, but Hermione had reveled in it. She sat there for nearly two hours, before she shut her book with a contented sigh and left the store.

She returned many times after, sometimes alone, accompanied only by a book or quills and parchment, and sometimes with a friend, either Luna Lovegood, a dreamy Ravenclaw student with eyes that seemed to search Ron's soul as she looked at him speculatively, or Neville Longbottom, a cheerful, if rather nervous, Hufflepuff. She always sat at the table closest to the counter, next to a painting that gave the impression of looking out over the city of Paris. Over the course of these visits, Ron managed to glean more about her without ever entering into conversation. She was a muggleborn. She liked cinnamon and chocolate. She had a giant, ginger, fluffball of a cat, whom she suspected was part kneazle, and lived with her parents in a flat in London. She was almost stupidly idealistic, preaching about house elf rights and house unity. She hated flying. Her best friend was a Slytherin. That one had thrown him for a loop, since most of his interactions with Slytherin house were with a certain spoiled prat and his goons, which really didn't do much for his opinion of the house. What shocked him more though was when he met this Slytherin best friend.

Of course Ron knew Harry Potter was in Slytherin. It had been the talk the school his first year, and most of the second too. The supposed savior of the wizarding world in the house famous for producing dark wizards? It was outright scandalous. He had been looked at with either awe or suspicion from day one, and last year's mess with the triwizard tournament, which had resulted in a dead body and a dramatic declaration that the he-who-must-not-be-named had returned, just seemed to make things worse. Ron was firmly on Harry's side of that controversy. He might be a Slytherin, but as far as he knew, Harry Potter was not a liar. What Ron hadn't known, or maybe he just hadn't noticed, was that Hermione had been by Harry's side through it all.

When _the_ Harry Potter walked into Starbucks that summer, it seemed like the entire shop came to a standstill. The boy had blushed a bit, and run a hand through his messy hair as patrons and baristas alike stared at him like he was some sort of carnival sideshow, some with hostility and others with mild interest. That is, until Hermione stepped in. She linked her arm through his and declared loudly that she thought people had better things to do than stare at their fellow customers. That did the trick, as people shook themselves out of their Potter induced stupor and the normal, quiet babble of voices and espresso machines returned to the store. Hermione had marched over to the counter, practically dragging a bemused Harry Potter behind her, and ordered for the both of them, then pulled him towards her usual table, where they were joined by Longbottom and Lovegood. As Ron made the drinks, he couldn't help but admire the guts of the normally quiet little bookworm. She would have made a decent Gryffindor.

He had been curious (and definitely not in the least bit worried), when Harry had entered the picture, and he watched them as sneakily as he could from his position at the machines whenever the two came to the shop. They came in often, though after the first incident, Harry made an effort to disguise himself a bit (Ron hadn't recognized him until he'd heard him speak the first time). Was he her soulmate? It would make sense. But the more he watched them, the more he realized that Hermione treated Harry the same way his own sister treated him. There was nothing even remotely romantic about their relationship. This was made even clearer one day when he was calling out finished orders. Harry had come to collect both their orders, and they had got to chatting. When the drinks were ready, the Slytherin had looked him up and down, then nodded and said "You're not so bad Weasley, I suppose you'll do. Don't mess things up with her." Ron had spluttered indignantly in response, but he would later recognize the odd feeling in his chest as relief. Harry quickly became a good friend, and he was even willing to admit that some Slytherins were decent enough, but he still couldn't bring himself to talk to Hermione.

* * *

It wasn't until the end of the summer that everything came to a head and Ron finally acknowledged that he may have feelings for the bushy haired bookworm. It was really thanks to Draco Malfoy, and honestly that was something Ron never thought he'd have to even think in his lifetime.

Hermione and Harry were waiting in line when Malfoy walked into the shop and joined the queue behind them. He smirked at the back of their heads, and began to exclaim loudly about how he "wasn't aware these people had the capacity to appreciate fine coffee" and how "his father would shut the shop down if he heard what sort of riff-raff were served here". Ron, who tended to glower whenever he caught sight of the blond, began to bristle as he caught wind of the words coming out of that arrogant prick's mouth, and he wasn't the only one. Seamus was muttering darkly under his breath, and Lavender looked furious. Dean, who usually got the worst of it from these particular customers just looked resigned. In fact, every other patron in the shop looked either angry or uncomfortable with the statements spewing from Malfoy's mouth. However, that was nothing compared to the reaction of the two teens in front of the loudmouthed Slytherin.

Harry was controlling his breathing, that much was obvious, and a deep scowl was etched on his face. He looked like a rubber band stretched to snap. Hermione, was positively shaking, her fists clenched tightly. Then Malfoy uttered the worst slur he could think of, and the word "mudblood" left his lips. Harry gave a furious growl, but before he could do anything more, Hermione had whipped around to face the blond. Then Hermione Granger pulled back her fist and punched Draco Malfoy in the face.

There was total silence for a few seconds, and Ron would admit that he openly gaped at her. Then the shop erupted into applause. Malfoy was doubled over, holding his nose and wailing.

"You bitch! You broke my nose! My father will hear about this!"

There were angry shouts from the rest of the patrons, and Harry stepped protectively in front of his friend, but it was Lavender who took charge. Hands on her hips, she looked down her nose at the boy.

"Don't be ridiculous Malfoy, I didn't see Granger do anything. What about you boys?"

The three of them exchanged a look and grinned as they shook their heads.

"I did see Malfoy walk into a closed door though" said Seamus with a menacing grin "what about you lot?" he called to the room at large. He still hadn't forgotten the frappuccino incident.

There was a chorus of agreement from the patrons, and Malfoy stalked furiously out of the shop, exclaiming that he would never return.

"Good riddance!" exclaimed Dean with a grin, before turning to Hermione, who looked torn between amazement and horror at her own actions, and said "What'll you have Hermione? It's on the house, for the pest control." he added with a wink.

As he fixed her drink, Ron had to admit, that he might be a little bit in love with Hermione Granger.

* * *

His crush had become a running joke among his colleagues. When Hermione would walk in, Seamus would grin, Lavender would smirk, and Dean would give him a little nudge when he was within reach. Even the other regulars started passing comments. Harry, Neville, and Luna had each cornered him and given him their approval, and he wasn't sure at all whether that made him want to talk to her more or if it just made him more nervous. When he continued to hide behind the counter, Harry had actually thrown his hands up in the air and said that he didn't think much of the famous Gryffindor courage if this was the extent of it. Ron had spent the rest of that day scowling at him.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her. He really, really did and that was the problem. She was smart and brave and earnest, and had no reservations. She didn't try to hide who she was, and it scared him a little. How could he even entertain the thought that her words would match the ones on his arm? It was easier just not knowing for sure. Even if her friends' actions made him feel like she liked him, it took more than a mutual liking to be soulmates, and he didn't think he could bear it if they weren't soulmates. So he stayed behind the counter, hiding among the hiss of the coffee machines. He should have known he couldn't stay that way forever.

* * *

"Lavender's taking her break." called Dean to the other two boys.

"Patil girls here?" asked Seamus from where he was blending up a Java Chip frappuccino. "Pass me a calming draught would you?" he asked Ron, who found the correct vial and handed it over.

"Yeah, so one of you need to cover the second till."

"Ron, you do it."

"Why me? It's your turn!"

"It was my turn last time! Besides, I'm the one actually making the drinks today!"

"Fine!" huffed Ron, pushing himself away from the portion of the counter he was leaning against and moving to take Lavender's place. Dean let out a sigh of relief. The line was unusually long today. The two worked quickly and efficiently. Neither of them were sure when Lavender would be back. The length of her breaks were directly proportionate to the amount of gossip the three girls had to share. They could see them huddled together at a table near enough to the counter that they'd be able to eavesdrop on any interesting customers.

"Next one's yours" murmured Dean to Ron. If he'd been paying attention, Ron would have heard the smile in his voice, and he probably would not have been so shocked when he looked up, right into a smiling face framed by bushy curls. Merlin's beard, she was pretty, and really, anyone would have tripped over their words if they had been caught by surprise, like he had.

"W-welcome to Starbucks, may I, er, may I take your order?" he managed to stutter out.

"Oh, aren't you the one who usually makes the drinks?" she inquired at the same time.

They both froze, and stared at each other. Time itself seemed to stop for Ron, as he registered the words that were just spoken to him. He could hear Seamus in the back sigh out a quiet "fucking finally!" and he had no trouble identifying the excited squeals from the corner as Lavender, Parvati and Padma. He could see Dean grinning at him from the corner of his eye. A quick look around the establishment in an effort to avoid eye contact resulted in his catching Harry's eye. The Slytherin grinned and shot him a thumbs up. Hermione cleared her throat.

"I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"I know." he blurted out, and blushed to the roots of his hair and mentally kicked himself. Way to sound like a stalker Weasley. "I mean, I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."

Hermione smiled "I can see that." Her eyes moved to his name tag "Lovely to meet you. Would you believe that Harry and Neville have been trying to get me to talk to you for the past week?"

Ron had to laugh at that. "Yeah, I would, actually."

There was an impatient huff from the line.

"As touching as this is, I would really like some coffee sometime today." said the next customer irritably.

This startled a laugh out of Hermione, and she quickly placed her order, a chai tea latte before heading over to a grinning Harry.

"Seamus, swap with me a moment."

"Only because you asked nicely lover-boy."

Ron rolled his eyes as he began to make the drink. When he was done, he waved her over, rather than announcing her order. She made her way towards him curiously.

"Here you go."

She smiled "Thank you."

"I was wondering, later, would you like to go to Fortescue's? He's got some new ice creams that I heard were pretty good." He tried to sound nonchalant, trying to remember that she couldn't hear the way his heart was racing, though he wasn't sure how she could miss it, it was really the only thing he could hear right now.

Hermione positively beamed. "Yeah, that sounds good. I can wait until you get off?" she asked, a little unsure.

"Yeah, yeah okay."

He watched as she walked back to her table. He had to be the luckiest guy on the planet to have her as his soulmate. He turned back to the machines, and Seamus waggled his eyebrows at him. He didn't mind though. He could take their ribbing today. Besides he had a date to prepare for.

**_A/N- So this is the 200th fic I've posted on AO3, which is just… wow. I haven't been doing this for long, but writing these fics makes me really happy, and I've gotten so much positive feedback from you guys as well. It makes me think I'm doing something right, so thank you all! This started with the idea "What if Ron had a summer job? I mean if I were him, I'd try to earn a little extra money whenever I could." And then it spiraled. Here some headcanons about this particular fic (If you hadn't already guessed this is very much an AU):_**

**_1\. _****_Starbucks is still relatively new to the wizarding world, so not many wizards have "Welcome to Starbucks" as their soulmarks_**

**_2\. _****_Until Starbucks opened up, Ron figured he was going to have to get a job at the Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks in order to meet his soulmate. Hermione on the other hand figured that her soulmate would be a muggle._**

**_3\. _****_Soulmarks are found in both the wizarding and muggle world. Wizards explain it away with magic. Muggles believe it has something to do with biochemistry._**

**_4\. _****_In this AU, Harry met Neville and Hermione on the train instead of Ron. He also didn't meet Draco until after the sorting, so he didn't really mind Slytherin so much. He and Draco still have their "Anything you can do I can do better" thing going on despite being in the same. _**

**_5\. _****_Hermione and Harry are best friends, and Neville is very close to them too, but few people realize it because even though Harry is often under public scrutiny, people don't notice how close he is with the other two because they're all in different houses, which makes it a bit harder to hang out together. Most of their hanging out is done in the library, in Hogsmede, or in secret rooms and passages (or the kitchen) after curfew. _**

**_6\. _****_Hermione's soulmark is on the back of her neck, and is usually covered by her hair. She spent about an hour trying to read it with a mirror, before she gave up and had her mother read it out to her._**

**_7\. _****_Ron becomes and Integral member of Harry's little group (*cough* that's how Harry meets Ginny *cough*) and Harry likes to joke that they've now got the whole set, as far as houses are concerned._**

**_Reviews are my everything so if you could leave one, that would be nice. Oh and you can help me decide what should be next: Fairy Tail (NaLu, with a possible Gruvia Omake), Teen Wolf (Sterek), or Merlin again (Gwen and Lance this time)._**


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